Election technician Tralyn Davis shows a voting unit at Riverside County Registrar of Voters office that are used during Riverside County elections in Riverside on Thursday, June 1, 2017. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

An Edge II ballot machine at Riverside County Registrar of Voters office that are used during Riverside County elections in Riverside on Thursday, June 1, 2017. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Imagine using a dial-up modem for internet and VHS for entertainment in 2017.

California elections officials say they face a similar situation with the technology used for a bedrock function of democracy. It’s why Secretary of State Alex Padilla supports a bill to raise $450 million through bonds to upgrade elections technology in California’s 58 counties.

The bill, AB 668, passed the Assembly 56-19 on Wednesday.

If it passes the Senate and is signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, California voters will decide whether to authorize the bonds in June 2018. Republicans argue the bill, known as the Voting Modernization Bond Act of 2018, is a costly and wrongheaded approach to upgrading elections systems.

“The right to vote is our most important right,” said the bill’s sponsor, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, D-San Diego. “But local election officials have to rely on equipment that is rapidly becoming outdated or obsolete.”

“We have a responsibility and a duty to modernize our voting equipment for future elections,” said Padilla, an elected Democrat. “An investment in modern voting systems will help protect the integrity of our elections and better serve voters.”

“We are on the threshold of delivering a more secure, transparent and accessible voting experience in California — one that positions us as leaders in the country,” Logan said.

“But we need the infrastructure in place to fully realize the benefits of election policies passed in recent years. AB 668 provides the support needed to ensure that happens,” he said.

The last major upgrade of election systems was in 2002, according to Padilla’s office.

California’s counties oversee elections within their boundaries — in many cases, with aging and outdated computer systems, according to a March report from the nonpartisan state Legislative Analyst’s Office.

“In one example, a county’s system had a failed part that no longer is supported by the manufacturer or easy to replace,” the report read. “The county purchased a replacement part through eBay.”

Another county’s system hasn’t changed since the 1990s, the report found.

“Although this county’s system has been updated periodically, it currently relies on computers that operate on Microsoft Windows XP — an operating system that was released in 2001 and no longer receives free security upgrades or other support from the manufacturer.”

Older technology

Registrars of voters in Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties said there’s a need to modernize.

“Our system is at the end of its life,” Orange County Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley said. “In 2014 we conducted an extensive analysis of the system … and concluded that we could not utilize the system effectively past 2018.”

Most of the problems are on machines that voters don’t encounter, Kelley said, although he added that screens and printers have failed on voting machines.

Orange County will be moving ahead with an upgrade regardless of what happens with AB 668, Kelley said.

Michael Scarpello, San Bernardino County’s registrar, said his office hopes to replace its technology in 2019 or 2021. A number of vote-counting machines are 14 years old and getting replacement parts is difficult, he said.

“The technology works perfectly fine. It’s just getting older,” he said. “It’s like driving an old car. You put a lot of maintenance into it.”

All of Riverside County’s election technology is more than 10 years old, said county Registrar of Voters Rebecca Spencer.

While she supports an upgrade, she said, “There are a few items to consider before moving forward.” The state has certified only two voting systems for use, Spencer said, adding she would like to choose from among at least three.

Another variable is a state bill, SB 450, passed in 2016 that could change how elections take place. That bill allows counties to send every voter a mail-in ballot that could be dropped off starting 28 days before Election Day, with voting centers opening 10 days before an election.

“If we were to buy new voting equipment right now, we would be purchasing equipment for 600 polling places,” Spencer said. “If Riverside County adopts SB 450, we would be buying equipment for 100 vote centers. The quantity and type of equipment needed will depend upon the type of election.”

Too costly?

If approved, AB 668 would make bond money available to counties if they provide matching funds. It would cost $13 million to repay the bonds in the first year, with payments growing to $55 million a year after a decade.

The 19 assembly members who voted against AB 668 are all Republicans. In a statement, Assemblyman Matt Harper, R-Huntington Beach, said the bill “is based on outdated assumptions about the cost of new voting equipment, made before California decided to switch to all-mail voting.”

“Simply put, it’s more money than we need,” said Harper, the vice chairman of the Assembly elections committee.

“On top of that, voting equipment turns obsolete quickly,” Harper added. “Because Democrats lack the political courage to pay upfront, interest will nearly double the total cost of this measure, and taxpayers will be paying off this purchase long after it’s outdated.”

ELECTIONs technology

AB 668, the Voting Modernization Bond Act of 2018, would sell up to $450 million in bonds to pay for upgrades to elections technology in California counties.

What happened: The Assembly passed the bill 54-19 on Wednesday.

What’s next: It goes to the Senate. If it passes there and gets signed by the governor, the bond measure would go before voters for approval in June 2018.

Jeff Horseman got into journalism because he liked to write and stunk at math. He grew up in Vermont and he honed his interviewing skills as a supermarket cashier by asking Bernie Sanders “Paper or plastic?” After graduating from Syracuse University in 1999, Jeff began his journalistic odyssey at The Watertown Daily Times in upstate New York, where he impressed then-U.S. Senate candidate Hillary Clinton so much she called him “John” at the end of an interview. From there, he went to Annapolis, Maryland, where he covered city, county and state government at The Capital newspaper before love and the quest for snowless winters took him in 2007 to Southern California, where he started out covering Temecula for The Press-Enterprise. Today, Jeff writes about Riverside County government and regional politics. Along the way, Jeff has covered wildfires, a tropical storm, 9/11 and the Dec. 2 terror attack in San Bernardino. If you have a question or story idea about politics or the inner workings of government, please let Jeff know. He’ll do his best to answer, even if it involves a little math.